I agree that PC and laptop sales are slumping right now. that's
definitely due to competition from tablets and smart phones. It's also
due to the fact that people are waiting on Windows 8. Let's also not
confuse the fact that PC and laptop sales aren't what they were this
time a year ago to PC's and laptops aren't selling at all. The market
will be shifting over time, and you won't have as many laptops and PC's
being sold, but that doesn't mean they're going away and it doesn't mean
that companies won't be making money selling them.

As I've said before, smart phones and tablets are great for content
consumption, but they aren't ideal for content creation. I know you can
attach a keyboard to a smart phone and I know you can hook up a large
display to a smart phone, but if you spend over 8 hours a day working on
spread sheets, desktop publishing, web content, programming and so on,
why would you do that on a less powered smart phone or tablet when you
could do that on a laptop or PC with more local storage, a faster
multi-core processor and multiple display support? There are also the
hard core gamers, and I don't see them putting up with the performance
of your typical smart phone or tablet.

I agree that smart phones and tablets will become more and more powerful
over time, but so will PC's and laptops. There are also these converged
devices, where you get a smart phone or tablet when you're out and about
and a desktop when you drop it into the dock on your desk. These might
be the real competition to laptops.

On 22/10/12 15:36, Mike Pietruk wrote:
> Harry 
> 
> This isn't an all or nothing decision.  Differing types of pcs, tablets, 
> phones and all sorts of electronic devices will compete in the marketplace 
> with many users opting for several different ones for a variety of 
> reasons.
> As for XP, no one knows whether April 2014 will end support or not; the 
> marketplace will determine that.
> If there remains a large user base, MSFT may have to continue support for 
> yet another cut-off date.
> And even if they don't extend the date, that isn't to say that folks won't 
> continue using xp.
> What kills an operating system is whether or not there are many folks 
> using it, whether software and hardware still remain available to do what 
> folks they to do, et al.
> And if support ends for XP, that says nothing about other desktop/laptop 
> operating systems such as Vista, Win 7 and now Win 8.
> So I don't expect the demise of desktops and laptops in the near term 
> though sales and use may decline in percentage terms with other equipment 
> taking a great portion of the share.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The real measure of our wealth is how much we should be worth if we lost our money.
> John Henry Jowett - (1864-1923), English Congregational pastor
> 
> 
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-- 
Christopher (CJ)
chaltain at Gmail


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